Patents by Inventor Kenichi Egawa
Kenichi Egawa has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
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Patent number: 8000874Abstract: A vehicle headway maintenance assist system is configured to perform a haptic notification control of an accelerator to prompt the driver to release the accelerator when the accelerator is being operated and to perform a deceleration control of the vehicle based on headway distance when the accelerator is being operated as long as the headway distance from a preceding vehicle is less than a prescribed headway distance threshold.Type: GrantFiled: March 8, 2007Date of Patent: August 16, 2011Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.Inventors: Satoshi Tange, Kenichi Egawa, Yosuke Kobayashi
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Patent number: 7966119Abstract: A vehicle headway maintenance assist system is provided that provides a haptic notification to an accelerator to alert the driver under prescribed conditions. The vehicle headway maintenance assist system includes a preceding vehicle detection section, a reaction force generating section, and a control section. The preceding vehicle detection section is configured to detect a headway distance between a host vehicle and a preceding vehicle. The reaction force generating section is configured to generate a reaction force based on the headway distance detected by the preceding vehicle detection section. The control section is configured to control a relationship between a driving force and an accelerator actuation amount by a driver to increase the accelerator actuation amount at a time before the reaction force generating section generates the reaction force.Type: GrantFiled: September 15, 2010Date of Patent: June 21, 2011Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.Inventors: Takeshi Sugano, Kenichi Egawa, Satoshi Tange, Yosuke Kobayashi
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Publication number: 20110004387Abstract: A vehicle headway maintenance assist system is provided that provides a haptic notification to an accelerator to alert the driver under prescribed conditions. The vehicle headway maintenance assist system includes a preceding vehicle detection section, a reaction force generating section, and a control section. The preceding vehicle detection section is configured to detect a headway distance between a host vehicle and a preceding vehicle. The reaction force generating section is configured to generate a reaction force based on the headway distance detected by the preceding vehicle detection section. The control section is configured to control a relationship between a driving force and an accelerator actuation amount by a driver to increase the accelerator actuation amount at a time before the reaction force generating section generates the reaction force.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 15, 2010Publication date: January 6, 2011Applicant: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.Inventors: Takeshi SUGANO, Kenichi EGAWA, Satoshi TANGE, Yosuke KOBAYASHI
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Patent number: 7822526Abstract: A vehicle headway maintenance assist system is provided that provides a haptic notification to an accelerator to alert the driver under prescribed conditions. The system changes a drive force/accelerator actuation relationship between an accelerator actuation amount and a target drive force or torque under the prescribed conditions. In particular, system changes a first drive force/accelerator actuation relationship to a second drive force/accelerator actuation relationship based on a vehicle running condition that was detected so that the driver more readily notices the haptic notification (e.g., an accelerator actuation reaction force) when the haptic notification is being applied to the accelerator to alert the driver under the prescribed conditions.Type: GrantFiled: March 9, 2007Date of Patent: October 26, 2010Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.Inventors: Takeshi Sugano, Kenichi Egawa, Satoshi Tange, Yusuke Kobayashi
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Patent number: 7809488Abstract: A headway maintenance assist system is provided with a correction section in which a drive force/accelerator actuation relationship between an accelerator actuation amount and a target drive force is changed to a drive force/accelerator relationship that is different than an ordinary drive force/accelerator relationship so that the driver more readily notices the accelerator reaction force when the accelerator reaction force is applied to the accelerator to alert the driver under prescribed conditions.Type: GrantFiled: April 26, 2007Date of Patent: October 5, 2010Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.Inventors: Kenichi Egawa, Satoshi Tange, Takeshi Sugano
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Patent number: 7788012Abstract: A vehicle headway distance control apparatus is provided with a first deceleration control system for controlling the deceleration of a vehicle according to a distance between the host vehicle and a preceding obstacle, and a second deceleration control system, which is different from the first deceleration control system and which controls the deceleration of a vehicle according to the same distance. A driver operable selection section is configured to allow a driver to arbitrarily turn “on” and “off” each of the first and second deceleration control systems, but prohibit simultaneously operation of both of the first and second deceleration control systems.Type: GrantFiled: March 8, 2007Date of Patent: August 31, 2010Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.Inventors: Nariaki Etori, Kenichi Egawa, Satoshi Tange
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Patent number: 7641190Abstract: A medium tray (101) comprises a medium support (1) connected to a medium feeding section (100) of an image recording apparatus (200) and receiving record medium (P), and a medium guide (5) extending from the medium support (1) and supporting the record medium (P) such that an angle of a rear portion of the record medium (P) is changed. A lengthy record medium (P) having a length greater than the medium support (1) is supported by the medium guide (5) with the rear portion thereof directed at a different angle so that the length record medium (P) is loaded in the medium tray (101) without enlarging an area projecting from the image recording apparatus (200).Type: GrantFiled: July 14, 2003Date of Patent: January 5, 2010Assignee: Oki Data CorporationInventors: Shinjiro Hara, Kenichi Egawa, Hidenori Ueda, Moriaki Fukao
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Publication number: 20070255481Abstract: A headway maintenance assist system is provided with a correction section in which a drive force/accelerator actuation relationship between an accelerator actuation amount and a target drive force is changed to a drive force/accelerator relationship that is different than an ordinary drive force/accelerator relationship so that the driver more readily notices the accelerator reaction force when the accelerator reaction force is applied to the accelerator to alert the driver under prescribed conditions.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 26, 2007Publication date: November 1, 2007Applicant: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.Inventors: Kenichi Egawa, Satoshi Tange, Takeshi Sugano
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Publication number: 20070213915Abstract: A vehicle headway maintenance assist system is configured to perform a haptic notification control of an accelerator to prompt the driver to release the accelerator when the accelerator is being operated and to perform a deceleration control of the vehicle based on headway distance when the accelerator is being operated as long as the headway distance from a preceding vehicle is less than a prescribed headway distance threshold.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 8, 2007Publication date: September 13, 2007Applicant: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.Inventors: Satoshi Tange, Kenichi Egawa, Yosuke Kobayashi
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Publication number: 20070213916Abstract: A vehicle headway maintenance assist system is provided that provides a haptic notification to an accelerator to alert the driver under prescribed conditions. The system changes a drive force/accelerator actuation relationship between an accelerator actuation amount and a target drive force or torque under the prescribed conditions. In particular, system changes a first drive force/accelerator actuation relationship to a second drive force/accelerator actuation relationship based on a vehicle running condition that was detected so that the driver more readily notices the haptic notification (e.g., an accelerator actuation reaction force) when the haptic notification is being applied to the accelerator to alert the driver under the prescribed conditions.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 9, 2007Publication date: September 13, 2007Applicant: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.Inventors: Takeshi Sugano, Kenichi Egawa, Satoshi Tange, Yusuke Kobayashi
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Publication number: 20070213914Abstract: A vehicle headway distance control apparatus is provided with a first deceleration control system for controlling the deceleration of a vehicle according to a distance between the host vehicle and a preceding obstacle, and a second deceleration control system, which is different from the first deceleration control system and which controls the deceleration of a vehicle according to the same distance.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 8, 2007Publication date: September 13, 2007Applicant: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.Inventors: Nariaki Etori, Kenichi Egawa, Satoshi Tange
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Publication number: 20040012141Abstract: A medium tray (101) comprises a medium support (1) connected to a medium feeding section (100) of an image recording apparatus (200) and receiving record medium (P), and a medium guide (5) extending from the medium support (1) and supporting the record medium (P) such that an angle of a rear portion of the record medium (P) is changed. A lengthy record medium (P) having a length greater than the medium support (1) is supported by the medium guide (5) with the rear portion thereof directed at a different angle so that the length record medium (P) is loaded in the medium tray (101) without enlarging an area projecting from the image recording apparatus (200).Type: ApplicationFiled: July 14, 2003Publication date: January 22, 2004Inventors: Shinjiro Hara, Kenichi Egawa, Hidenori Ueda, Moriaki Fukao
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Patent number: 6678603Abstract: In adaptive cruise control apparatus and method for an automotive vehicle, a velocity of the vehicle is detected, an inter-vehicle distance between the vehicle and a preceding vehicle which is a controlled system of a following run control is detected, a driving force of the vehicle is controlled to maintain the inter-vehicle distance at a target inter-vehicle distance when the inter-vehicle distance between the vehicle and the other vehicle is detected and to maintain the velocity of the vehicle at a set vehicle speed when no other vehicle is detected on the same traffic lane in the forward direction of the vehicle, and an acceleration value at an initial stage of an acceleration is set in such a manner as to be larger than that at a later stage of acceleration when the other vehicle detection state is transferred from the detection state to a non-detection state.Type: GrantFiled: January 17, 2002Date of Patent: January 13, 2004Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.Inventors: Kenichi Egawa, Kenta Kubota
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Patent number: 6505111Abstract: In apparatus and method for automatically controlling a vehicular velocity of an automotive vehicle maintaining an inter-vehicle distance to a preceding vehicle, a follow-up run controller determines whether such a follow-up run control as to control the vehicular velocity should be released or not according to a vehicular motion when a shift lever of an automatic transmission shift mechanism (or of a continuously variable transmission) is operated to shift a drive (D) range to a gear maintaining range (such as a second-speed range or third- speed range). If the shift operation occurs from the drive range to the 2nd-speed range during the follow-up run control, the engine speed N2nd in the second-speed range is estimated. If the engine speed N2nd is equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold value NTH, the follow-up run control is continued. If the engine speed N2nd is in excess of the predetermined threshold value NTH, the follow-up run control is released.Type: GrantFiled: January 13, 2000Date of Patent: January 7, 2003Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.Inventors: Satoshi Tange, Kenichi Egawa
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Patent number: 6460645Abstract: In a vehicular velocity controlling apparatus for an automotive vehicle, a vehicular velocity detector is provided to detect a vehicular velocity of the vehicle, a vehicular velocity controlling section is provided that controls a vehicular driving force of the vehicle to make a detected value of the vehicular velocity substantially equal to a set vehicular velocity previously set, a plurality of switches are provided which includes a first switch (SET/COAST switch) and a second switch (RESUME/ACCELERATE switch), each switch being enabled to be interlocked with a predetermined operation of at least one switching member at a position such as to match with a general vehicular occupant's sense of vehicular manipulation, and a set vehicular velocity modifying section is provided that modifies the set vehicular velocity in such a manner that the detected value of the vehicular velocity is set to the set vehicular velocity when at least one of the following conditions is established, when a time duration of thType: GrantFiled: June 22, 2000Date of Patent: October 8, 2002Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.Inventors: Tetsuya Asada, Tetsuya Iijima, Kenichi Egawa, Satoshi Tange
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Patent number: 6434471Abstract: When a vehicle-to-vehicle time gap is changed from a first level to a second level with a selector switch, a controller determines a desired time gap so that the desired time gap varies from the first level to the second level at such a gradual rate as to prevent an abrupt change in the vehicle speed. The controller further determines a desired vehicle spacing from the controlled vehicle to a preceding vehicle in accordance with the desired time gap and a sensed vehicle speed, and controls the driving force and braking force of the controlled vehicle so as to bring the actual vehicle spacing closer to the desired vehicle spacing.Type: GrantFiled: June 22, 2000Date of Patent: August 13, 2002Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.Inventors: Tetsuya Asada, Kenichi Egawa, Akira Higashimata, Satoshi Tange
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Publication number: 20020095254Abstract: In adaptive cruise control apparatus and method for an automotive vehicle, a velocity of the vehicle is detected, an inter-vehicle distance between the vehicle and a preceding vehicle which is a controlled system of a following run control is detected, a driving force of the vehicle is controlled to maintain the inter-vehicle distance at a target inter-vehicle distance when the inter-vehicle distance between the vehicle and the other vehicle is detected and to maintain the velocity of the vehicle at a set vehicle speed when no other vehicle is detected on the same traffic lane in the forward direction of the vehicle, and an acceleration value at an initial stage of an acceleration is set in such a manner as to be larger than that at a later stage of acceleration when the other vehicle detection state is transferred from the detection state to a non-detection state.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 17, 2002Publication date: July 18, 2002Applicant: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.Inventors: Kenichi Egawa, Kenta Kubota
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Patent number: 6401024Abstract: A preceding-vehicle follow-up control system is arranged to calculate a target vehicle speed based on a vehicle-to-vehicle distance and a controlled-vehicle speed, to calculate a target acceleration based on the target vehicle speed and to control driving force and braking force of the controlled vehicle based on the target acceleration. During this control period, the target acceleration is limited by an acceleration limit and a deceleration limit which are varied according the controlled-vehicle speed, respectively. This arrangement enables a follow-up vehicle speed control to be preferably executed without applying a strange feeling to a driver.Type: GrantFiled: June 12, 2000Date of Patent: June 4, 2002Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.Inventors: Satoshi Tange, Kenichi Egawa, Tetsuya Asada, Akira Higashimata
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Patent number: 6389351Abstract: A preceding-vehicle follow-up control system is arranged to calculate a target vehicle speed employed for bringing a detected vehicle-to-vehicle distance closer to a target vehicle-to-distance, to control the controlled-vehicle speed to bring a controlled-vehicle speed closer to the target vehicle speed, to decelerate the controlled-vehicle speed to a set vehicle speed at a rate of a preset deceleration when the controlled-vehicle speed is greater than a control continuation decision value greater than an upper limit of the set vehicle speed and when the accelerating operation is terminated. This arrangement provides a smooth drive feeing to a driver even after an acceleration of the controlled vehicle is executed during a follow-up control and is terminated.Type: GrantFiled: June 12, 2000Date of Patent: May 14, 2002Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.Inventors: Kenichi Egawa, Tetsuya Asada, Satoshi Tange, Akira Higashimata
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Patent number: 6351702Abstract: In apparatus and method for automatically controlling a vehicular velocity of an automotive vehicle maintaining an inter-vehicle distance to a preceding vehicle, a release of a follow-up run control (a vehicular run control) to control the vehicular velocity to follow up the preceding vehicle is smoothly carried out when a follow-up run release condition such that when the vehicle is running with a braking control executed on a road surface having a low frictional coefficient such as a wet road or snowy road. For example, when the vehicle is running under a follow-up run control to follow up the preceding vehicle and the release condition of the follow-up run control is established, a controller determines if the vehicle is under the braking control execution. If the vehicle is under the braking control, the follow-up run control is continued. Upon the end of the braking control, a follow-up run release flag FF is set to “1” and the follow-up run control is released.Type: GrantFiled: January 14, 2000Date of Patent: February 26, 2002Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.Inventors: Satoshi Tange, Kenichi Egawa